Windows 10 - Remove a program that windows won't uninstall

There are a bunch of unwanted softwares that you don't want to keep in the Windows 10 system. By doing this you free up some disk spaces and speed up your PC.

One thing you should know before you attempt the methods outlined below. Microsoft has incorporated a sort of a self-healing service in Windows. This means if anything goes wrong in the background, Windows will fix it. The self-healing service might reinstall the apps that you unstalled. And, in case it doesn’t, it will install those apps automatically on your next major upgrade of Windows 10. If you don't want to repeat the process every time this happens, you may choose to stop all automatic updates.

When you uninstall a desktop app (program), it will uninstall it for all users on the PC.

When you uninstall a Windows app (ex: from Store), it will only remove it from your user account since each Microsoft account owns their own modern apps like a smart phone.

Here are some tips to remove them.

Method 1 - Remove in Start Menu

Click the Windows logo icon on the screen or press the Windows logo key on keyboard. From the Start menu select the app which you want to remove and right click on it.

When you see a small window pup up. click Uninstall.

Follow the instrutions and finish the uninstallation.

Method 2 - Remove from Settings

Click the Start button to pop up the Start menu, then click the Settings icon.

In the Settings pop up window, click the following icons:Apps -> App & features.

Choose the app that you want to remove. Click the uninstall Icon.

Choose other programs that you want to remove and repeat the above step.

Finally close the Settings window.

Method 3 - Remove from Control Panel

Click the Start button to pop up the Start menu, select Windows system -> Control Panel and click.

In Control panel window, click Programs(Unstall a program).

In Control Panel choose the program that your want to remove. Click the uninstall Icon.

Choose other programs that you want to remove and repeat the above steps.

Finally Exit Control panel.

Method 4 - Remove by running PowerShell

Find the Windows PowerShell from the start menu. Right-click on it, select Run as administrator from giving options.

In the Windows PowerShell window, copy and paste the following command corresponding to the app which you want to uninstall. Press Enter to run the command.

Scroll down the list of installed apps, and look for the PackageFullName of the app (ex: People) you want to uninstall. (see screenshot below)
For example People app full name:Microsoft.People_10.0.3450.0_x86_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Type the command below in PowerShell, press Enter, remove-appxpackage PackageFullName
Substitute PackageFullName in the commands above with the app's actual Package Full Name.
For example to remove People app:remove-appxpackage Microsoft.People_10.0.3450.0_x86_8wekyb3d8bbwe

With the methods above mentioned, you can remove most apps which you don't want. However there are still some stuborn apps that you cann't remove. The methods above only hiding the app. To truly remove them we have to use DISM.

To get a list of installed packages:

dism /online /get-provisionedappxpackages | select-string packagename

Then for each packagename, let's say Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI, you can remove it as such:

Method 5 - Remove by starting windows in Safe mode

Windows Safe Mode enables you to remove troublesome programs that usually start at the same time as Windows. However, Windows Installer will not work under Safe Mode, this means that some programs cannot be installed or uninstalled in safe mode without giving a specific command using msiexec in command prompt.

Simply download SafeMSI, boot in safe mode and then run this utility. You can now try to install or uninstall the program that require Windows Installer service.

Start Windows 10 in Safe mode from Start menu

Step 1: Open the Start menu, click on the Power button.

Step 2: Hold down the Shift key and the click on the Restart button.

Step 3: When you see the Choose an option screen, follow the directions to start your Windows 10 PC in safe mode.

A Very Important Safety Aspect You Should NOT Ignore

Most of the Windows 10 built-in apps can be "safely" removed. We've tested this scenario and we didn't find any problems in the core Windows 10 operation. However, there is one app which we highly recommend that you do not uninstall: the Store. If you choose to remove the Store from your Windows 10 device, you won't be able to reinstall any universal app afterwards. You won't be able to do it even if you refresh or reset your Windows 10 computer. The only way to get the Store back, and then be able to install other apps, is to make a clean Windows 10 installation. As such, we strongly recommend you leave the Store app untouched.